Nokia Begins Rolling Out Portico Update to Global Versions of the Lumia 920 and 820

Nokia as we all know, is best buddies with Microsoft which is why we’re seeing smartphones like the Lumia 920, 820 receive several exclusive apps while the rest of the WP8 camp have to settle with what the developers provide. This partnership also means that Nokia gets to work in close quarters with Microsoft to test future versions of Windows Phone and its updates. One such update with regards to the newly launched Windows Phone 8 OS is the much anticipated Portico update. This update promised to fix the one nagging issue among several others which was plaguing the platform since WP7. We’re of course talking about the Wi-Fi sleep bug, which would cause Wi-Fi to turn off when the battery saver is enabled and the screen is locked. It’s actually a pretty dreadful bug and one which should have been fixed a long time ago, but better late than never says Microsoft.

This Portico update initially made its way to HTC WP8 smartphones like the 8X and 8S. And now, Nokia has started pushing the update to its two beloved Lumia smartphones, the Lumia 920 and the Lumia 820. This update is for the global versions of the aforementioned Lumia smartphones as American variants have already received the update. As usual, Nokia plans to roll out the update slowly and not simultaneously to every Lumia 920 and 820 smartphone in the world. The company claims that the roll out should be completed by March. The update will be OTA, so expect a notification message to pop up on your screen when it is made available in your region. The Lumia 920 recently launched in India with the Portico update built in, so we should expect the next batch of Lumia 920 and 820 smartphones to come with the update built in.

Along with bringing the “always on” Wi-Fi feature, this update will also bring forth an update to the camera app. The Lumia 920 camera captured rather blurry daylight pictures, which can be an annoying issue for Lumia 920 users as all the focus initially was on the device’s camera with OIS (optical image stabilization) and PureView technology. It seems like the camera update is a Lumia only feature as HTC’s 8X which received the update last month didn’t bring forth any updates in that department. Other features of the update include the ability to “select all” in the SMS inbox with a new drafts facility for the user’s inbox as well. Further, users will be able to reject calls with a custom SMS. Many would claim that these features existed on Android since ages, and rightly so. Small features like these certainly prove a platform’s mettle and Windows Phone 8 is by no means perfect, at least in comparison to other smartphone OSes. Microsoft however is hard at work to rectify that, and updates like these will certainly help.